All-male cast adds new wrinkle to 'Sweeney Todd'- Page 2

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 1/22/16 at 8:38pm

Bettyboy, I've seen an all male production of Steel Magnolias although it wasn't sanctioned.  And there have been others that Harling simply didn't get wind of.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/22/16 at 8:48pm

If only they had access to some female talent!

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/22/16 at 8:53pm

perfectlymarvelous said: "So...the Doyle revival minus the instruments and the women?"

 

Exactly. It sounds unoriginal and tacky. 

[Dmatthewcastro]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 3:33am

Reactions have honestly been great the crowds love it. It's different and exciting.

and the theatre does have female talent, however the directors vision was only with males(which MTI did give us the okay for)  

later this season the theatre is doing an all female Medea 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 3:05pm

I tend to not like when they do all-male renditions of a show, simply because there are enough of them out there already. Forever Plaid, Pacific Overtures, even the majority of Spamalot and Forum. I can't think of too many musicals with 99% female casts. The only one that pops into my head is Nine.

[beilis32]

Posted: 1/26/16 at 5:45pm

It sounds crazy, but I'd see it just to see how it was physically possible for men sing the female parts. If there's a video anywhere I'm bursting with curiosity!

[GlitterandBeGay2]

Posted: 2/6/16 at 11:45am

Hi, everyone!  I got back from seeing this last night and wanted to say that y'all are missing one of the best (imho) Sweeney Todd's ever, not to mention a beautifully-realized production.  The cast of nine men perform the piece dead serious and damn did they sing AND act the hell out of the score!   This was everything you'd hope with this kind of concept.  No camp.  Rich, layered performances coaxed out of each actor by director David Carnevale.  Very hard to believe this is a non-Equity house.

A word about the casting:  to the best of my knowledge, at no time did this company (Theatre Out) promote this as Sondheim's masterpiece performed by all guys to lure people to the show.  I got an email from them because I've attended two other shows in this space, was consistently impressed by the quality (and I see a lot of theatre), and ended up signing up to be on their mailing list.  The email just listed the actor's names, none of whom I recognized, and not the character(s) each was playing.  It did not register with me that they were all guy names.  I only found out after checking Theatre Out's Facebook page and clicking on the "Event" listing for the show.  When I saw a traditionally male name next to Nellie Lovett in parentheses, I had an OMS (omisondheim) moment and immediately got a ticket.

I really do not believe the casting was a gimmick as some have suggested. Sitting in the sadly bare audience last night, I compared the experience to seeing an all-male Shakespearean tragedy done right.   And Sondheim's my Shakespeare and Sweeney is tragic.   Each performer clearly demonstrated his love for the Master through his respective interpretation.  There was a moment when the actors who play Johanna and Anthony sang "Kiss Me!" in the original key (to a track unfortunately but fortunately a very good one) and it was heavenly the way their voices harmonized.  I kept imagining that if Steve were in the room he'd have a huge grin on his papa bear face.

I wish I had time to write more (haven't even commented on the two leads) but must dash off to work.  I do encourage you to catch this rare staging in Santa Ana, CA before it closes next weekend!!  Any opinions formed from just reviewing the production photos in the linked article and prejudices about community theatre in general will be upended by the time the opening number concludes.